A Fond Farewell From A Past President

Dave Corelli, Past President

Winter 2017–2018

It is hard to believe, but six years have passed since I became the President of the Vibration Institute. It has been a very busy and exciting time for me. I have had the opportunity to move the Institute forward in many areas and see our scope grow. While this experience has been very rewarding, the time has come for me to step down. I retired from PCB Piezotronics in July, moved to be near family– especially my grandchildren– and I am looking forward to reducing my day-to-day responsibilities in order to enjoy life at a slower pace.

Bob Sayer, a longtime member of the Vibration Institute and Board of Directors, assumed the position as president on January 1. Bob is a very capable man and will bring renewed vigor to the position. Please join me in welcoming Bob to this position.

The road of the Vibration Institute over the past six years has been rocky at times. During my tenure I have worked with three different Executive Directors, seen our office go from thumb drives and typewriters to a modern network environment, hired all new employees, and moved our headquarters to a larger facility, all to better support our members and colleagues. We have improved our training and certification programs, developed our marketing literature and methods, and almost tripled the attendance at our annual conference, which has been my personal goal. Now, with our new partnerships led by current Executive Director Michael Long, we expect our annual conference attendance to exceed 400 in New Orleans in July! If you haven’t been to the VI Annual Training Conference, consider the benefits of attendance.

Yes, I am stepping down. But, I will stay busy and involved with the Institute. I will remain on the Board of Directors, continue in my position as the Technical Director of Certification, and assume the lead role in developing the technical program for our annual conference. I encourage you to express what technical content you would like to see at our conference, to submit papers, and to suggest speakers. We want this conference to be both informative and enjoyable for our attendees. In addition to the technical program, we will have a record number of vendors this year displaying the latest and greatest instruments in our field, complete with two receptions involving good hor d’oeuvres and beverages.

While the Vibration Institute has made great strides in the past six years, you will continue to see improvement in our services in the future. Please join me in supporting Bob Sayer, our new President, and Michael Long, our Executive Director, as we continue to grow the organization to the benefit of the vibration analysis community.